Superior of the InBetween
by Sryler
Summary: What if Ichigo's Zanpakutō wasn't Zangetsu. What if it held another power. That of nothingness. Enter Ichigo, Superior of the In-Between
1. Chapter 1

Ichigo felt himself being drawn into his inner world, the gaping hole in his chest symbolizing his transformation into a hollow. Tessai was attempting to restrain him in hopes that he would succeed in becoming a shinigami again. Little did they both know what exactly would happen.

_Ichigo's Inner World…_

Ichigo awoke and felt himself lying on a hard surface. Opening his eyes he saw sideways clouds moving across his field of vision. Sitting up he looked straight ahead and he noticed that he was on the side of a large blue colored building. Ichigo waved his arms, screaming all the while as he expected himself to fall to his death.

"Why are you acting so foolish Ichigo?" Asked a deep voice from nearby.

Ichigo turned his head and saw a man in a black hooded coat walking calmly towards him across the side of the building.

"How the hell are you doing that, aren't you worried about falling?" Ichigo yelled at him.

The man continued walking and grabbed Ichigo's shoulder and pulled him upwards. "It is impossible for me to be worried about anything." He said.

Ichigo waved his arms again but found that he was standing on the side of the building as if he was standing flat on the ground.

"Alright, who the hell are you?" Ichigo growled at the man.

"I'm your power." The figure responded. "My name is…"

"What?" Ichigo asked, "I didn't catch that last part.

"After all this time you still are unable to hear my name." Said the man as he swept his arms wide, "If I was able to feel sadness I would be weeping."

Ichigo stared it the man and asked, "Look, as far as I know I am turning into a hollow and will probably end up being killed by Hat n' Clogs if I don't become a shinigami again.

The man turned towards him and removed his hood, revealing a man that appeared to be in his late twenties with amber-orange eyes and shoulder length silver hair.

"Well let's see if we can do something about that Ichigo." He said.

_Back in the real world…_

Urahara Kisuke watched the beam of yellow light explode from beneath the ground and enshroud the area in its brilliant light.

A piece of the light arched off and landed in front of the shinigami captain turned shopkeeper.

"Well Ichigo, did you succeed?" He called.

_Five minutes later…_

Ichigo ran in terror, the hilt of his broken sword lying in the dust behind him.

If I don't do something, I'm going to die Ichigo screamed into his head.

"Call my name…" came the voice of the man.

"I can't hear it." Ichigo cried desparatly.

"Yes you can. Do you want to win? Do you want to save that girl? Shape up and call my name!" The man shouted at Ichigo.

Ichigo, at that moment, realized that in order to win he had to use all his power. To save Rukia he had to win and to do that he needed to know the name of his Zanpakutō. He heard it's name. Ichigo turned to face Urahara who was charging at him, Benihime raised. "Call upon the in-between and raise the blade of interdiction, XEMNAS!!!" Ichigo called as he was surrounded and explosion of power.

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**Love the idea, hate the idea. Let us know. Future chapters will be a lot longer, 4,000 words at least. Please Review **


	2. Chapter 2

**And here is the new chapter. You wouldn't believe what a pain in the ass it was to post this thing. All the text came blocked together and I had to enter everything again. Well here it is. Also, if you are about to click away from this because you don't know anything about Kingdom Hearts don't worry, almost all of this will be baised in the Bleach universe and anything that comes from Kingdom Hearts will be explained and adapted to the Bleach verse.**

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"Call upon the in-between and raise the blade of interdiction, XEMNAS!!!" Ichigo called as he was surrounded and explosion of power. Black energy surrounded by black and white colored thorn like ropes of power obscured him from view.

"Well Ichigo, have you unlocked your Shikai yet?" Urahara asked. Then Urahara noticed it. Ichigo's power, no his presence itself, had vanished. The black energy had vanished to, leaving nothing but open space in front of Urahara. Urahara twisted out of the way just as a red beam of energy sliced through the air that his head had occupied a moment ago. His hat wasn't so lucky as it was knocked of his head by the beam. Urahara gaped in amazement. If he hadn't heard the whooshing noise of… he turned around and saw a black coated man floating about a foot off the ground with his arms crossed in front of him. A cloud of dark power closed behind him.

"Urahara, did I catch you off guard there?" Came a slightly distorted voice that Urahara recognized as Ichigo's. (A.N. Ichigo's voice when he has the Hollow Mask on in the English dub.)

"Ichigo, is that you under that hood?" Urahara asked. No matter which way he tilted his head he couldn't see through the veil of darkness that surrounded the young Kurosaki's features.

"Well duh, who else would it be?" Ichigo asked incredulously.

"Well Ichigo that isn't exactly the standard Shinigami uniform your wearing now is it?" Urahara responded indignantly.

Ichigo removed his hood with his black gloved hands and gazed down at his new appearance. A smooth leather coat with a hood, large zippers, bell shaped sleeves and silver beaded drawstrings for the hood. It also had a looping chain around the neck with more silver on it. Hakama-like pants and silver trimmed boots completed the outfit. He also noticed that he was floating. Ichigo's eyes widened for a second but he settled down a second later and floated to the ground. "Well, I knocked off your hat, do I pass?" Ichigo asked.

"Yep." Urahara said happily. "Now we can…" He never got to finish the sentence as Ichigo waved his arms and another cloud of darkness appeared. Ichigo stepped through it and then it closed. Leaving Urahara gaping in shock.

_Out in the forest at the outskirts of Karakura town…_

Ishida fired his bow repeatedly into the targets that he had set up for himself. He heard a whooshing sound and looked in the direction from which the sound came and saw Ichigo step out of the shadows in his new attire. "Kurosaki, what are you doing here?" Ishida asked angrily. (A.N. I'm sorry, I know he's referred to as Uryu in the English dub but I prefer calling him Ishida like in the fashion of the manga. Because of this he will refer to Ichigo as Kurosaki the same as he does in the manga.)

"Just coming to see how you were doing. Urahara said you were alright but I wanted to make sure that you were alright." Ichigo responded. "Why are you acting so pissed of Ishida?"

"I came out here for privacy and now you're intruding on it with your orange haired, leather clad, imbecilic, pathetic excuse for shinigami spirit!" Ishida yelled.

"You're an asshole Ishida, here I am coming out to make sure your O.K. and there you are insulting me!" Ichigo shouted, sweeping his arms wide.

"Well maybe if you left then I wouldn't be insulting you you moron." Ishida shouted back.

"Well maybe I just have to kick your ass!" Ichigo challenged as he began to float off the ground.

"Not of I shoot an arrow in yours first!" Ishida answered as he summoned his Quincy bow. _It seems that Ichigo has recovered his Shinigami powers_ Ishida thought to himself as he prepared to fire a shot. _But something's wrong, I can't sense any spirit energy from him at all. It's as if he doesn't even exist._ Ichigo crossed his arms in front of him. A pose he felt very comfortable in for some reason. Ishida fired a nonlethal shot at Ichigo. Ichigo simply flicked a finger, causing a portal of darkness to open up in front of him. The arrow flew into it. Ishida, whose senses had been trained upon the arrow, barely managed to avoid said projectile as it shot at him from behind out of the portal that had opened there. _What, portals! _Ishida thought as lined up his bow for another shot.

"You're slow Ishida." Ichigo said as he blurred into existence behind Ishida. He uncrossed his arms and Ishida watched as twin beams of red energy extended from his palms. Swinging them like swords Ichigo lunged at Ishida. Ishida ducked under the horizontal cross slash and leapt backwards. Ichigo leapt forewords and slashed at Ishida's face. The red blade struck him and sent him flying into a tree.

"You alright there?" Ichigo asked mockingly. Ishida didn't respond. Ichigo walked over to him and saw that he had been knocked unconscious. "Man, I didn't think I hit him that hard." Ichigo said. "Still, I should take him to Urahara's." He picked up Ishida and opened a portal. He stepped through it.

_Back at the Urahara Shop…_

Urahara looked up and saw Ichigo carrying Ishida over his shoulder.

"What happened to him?" Urahara asked as he opened his fan in front of his face.

"Sparring, hit him into a tree, got knocked out." Ichigo mumbled, suddenly feeling very tired. He promptly fell flat on his face.

Urahara called down Jinta and Ururu to carry them upstairs and began to examine the spot that the portal had been. _That wasn't a Garganta or a Senkaimon. What on Earth was it?_

_Later that night…_

Urahara lay fast asleep on his futon, snoring away contentedly. His dreams filled with naughty dreams involving a certain Shihōin princess. Suddenly he felt a hand close around his throat. He awoke with a start. He saw a black coated figure above which he at first thought was Ichigo but he saw that the figure was taller. He suddenly felt like he had been shocked by electricity and he immediately started to lose consciousness again. The last thing he heard was, "Welcome to the organization. Use the Frozen Pride well."

Ishida tossed and turned in his sleep. He was hearing a voice. "Call me the Freeshooter." It said. "Dude, I think it's time you and I had a little heart to heart."

_Seireitei, Senzaikyū_…

Rukia pulled her knees up against her chest and shuddered. She felt so cold. She was truly alone. Her brother thought her a traitor and Ichigo was dead. It was all her fault to. _I deserve to be executed for this. It's because of me that an innocent man died._ She heard a whooshing sound and looked for the source of it and saw a dark portal open in front of her. The same man from the Urahara shop stepped out and walked slowly towards her.

"Greetings Ms. Kuchiki." He said.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"A friend." He responded. "You trouble yourself to much child. You should rest; you will need your strength in the days to come."

"What's the purpose of strength now?" Rukia asked quietly. "An innocent man is dead because of me and I am going to be executed."

The man had closed half the distance between them. "Really?" At that moment the two guards from the outside had heard the talking and rushed in.

"You, back away from the prisoner!" One ordered. When the man made no response they drew their swords and charged.

"Guard." The man muttered and a transparent shield of energy formed into the air between them. The two guards bounced off it and hit the ground hard. He crossed the rest of the distance and placed a hand on Rukia's head. "May the Oblivion and the Oathkeeper serve you well." She felt a shock and lost consciousness. The man turned to the two guards who were picking themselves up off the ground. "Let this be known. Organization XIII does not abandon its fellows." With that he disappeared in a cloud of darkness.

_Hueco Mundo…_ Grimmjow the adjuchas prowled through the white desert the Hollow home world consisted of. He had recently abandoned the other adjuchas that had followed him. He saw no use in hanging out with cowardly pieces of trash such as them. He saw the man who had just visited Rukia step out of a corridor of darkness. (A.N. This is what the portals are called and since most of us knew that already I will refer to them as such. If you didn't then now you know.) "Who the hell are you?" Grimmjow growled angrily.

"You're a fiery one aren't you." The man stated.

"Your point being. Get the hell out of here before I eat you." Grimmjow growled menacingly.

"I wouldn't advise that. We nothings aren't very filling." The man responded.

"Nothings? What the hell do you mean?"

"As in we do not truly exist."

"You look like you exist to me."

"Are existence is a hollow one. We are devoid of hearts, not unlike you hollows, but also, we are devoid of emotion." The man said.

"No emotions, hell, I bet you're just faking it. You're just like that Vasto Lorde I saw earlier." Grimmjow responded with a disbelieving tone.

"It would be difficult to prove but you should know that it is true." The man responded. "It is the standard trait of our 'species' I guess you could say."

"So what the hell do you want with me?" Grimmjow asked.

"I am looking for people willing to join up with a little organization of mine. The perks of being a member would be a great boon to you." He responded.

"Well if I joined I take it I would have to answer to you?" Grimmjow asked. "If that is the case then no. I will not be ruled."

"Answer to me, no. You will still be able to do as you please, just contribute to our cause when we need it."

"What do you mean by contribute."

"For the lack of a better term help defeat anyone who gets in the way of our goals."

"I like the sound of that. What are these perks?"

"Power, allies, you may even make a friend or two."

"What kind of power are we talking about here?"

"In your case I think power over the Fury of the Dancing Flames would suit you nicely." The man finished. He flashed forewords and placed a hand on Grimmjow's face. Instead of falling unconscious like all the previous recipients Grimmjow stayed conscious as he felt a foreign presence enter his mind and body. Grimmjow immediately felt like his skin was shattering which it actually was. His hollow body was breaking away and scattering like dust on the wind. After about a minute of this Grimmjow felt the pain leave him. He grasped at the sand beneath him with his hands, wait hands. He looked down and saw human arms and hands grasping the sand.

"Take a while to get used to your new form. You aren't exactly what I'd call a hollow anymore." The man said.

Grimmjow slowly straightened and stood tall on two legs. He let out a feral roar and felt the power flowing off him. Feeling the heat of his power building in him he let out another roar and watched as the energy around him caught fire and exploded into a raging pillar of fire that surrounded Grimmjow yet did not burn his skin. In fact the flames felt good, much like the gentle caress of the wind on a normal persons face. Letting the flames die down he saw that he had turned all the sand within about twenty feet around him into glass.

"Do you like it?" asked the man.

Grimmjow turned towards him, noticing how the man hadn't even been shaken by the blast but was totally unharmed. Uncaringly he responded. "I like this, I like it a lot."

"I'm glad you do." Came a voice from within Grimmjow's mind. It sounded very laid back but with an aura of danger about it. "The name is Axel, got it memorized?"

Grimmjow, upon hearing the voice of his Zanpakutō, raised his arms out until they were level with his shoulders and whispered, "Immolate them with the Eternal Flames, Axel." Flames began to gather around him again, although much closer this time, obscuring him from view. Within the circle of flames yet more flames formed in front of his outstretched hands, spinning in miniature vortexes. Suddenly the flames extinguished revealing twin spinning chakrams. Each chakram was circular and red, with silver spikes and circles around the edges, and two black handles crossed in the middle. Grimmjow grasped the handles and raised his head, a warrior's grin decorating his face. The flames around him extinguished, revealing his previously naked body now clothed in another black coat. This one however had tighter sleeves, so as not to get in the way of the chakrams.

"You look very intimidating." The man offered.

"Well, what now?" Grimmjow asked as he looked at his own reflection on one of the eight blades of his chakrams. He saw that his face had transformed from a panthers to a humanoid males. Teal hair, matching eyes and a face that most girls would love was his new visage.

"I think it's time we left this place. It seems a little dismal." The man offered.

"I guess, but could I get a name?" Grimmjow asked.

"You can refer to me as Xehanort." The man offered. He waved his hand and another corridor of darkness appeared. "We should get going."

"Where are we going?" Grimmjow asked.

"To a place called Karakura town. To a place called the Urahara shop. This is where you will meet your fellow members. Numbers one, two and four. "

"What about three?" Grimmjow asked.

"We just haven't found a suitable candidate. I will have number one inform you." Xehanort said. He stepped into the corridor of darkness. Grimmjow shrugged and followed him.

_Urahara Shop, the next morning…_

Ichigo awoke to the sound of a large explosion and some maniacal cackling that sounded like it was coming from the basement. He opened his eyes and turned his head to the side and ended up looking directly into the face of Tessai Tsukabishi. Ichigo's eyes widened and he frantically crab walked away until he reached a wall. "What the hell?!" He yelled.

Tessai immediately crawled over to Ichigo on his hands and knees. "Please, you must help us." He begged. "Mr. Urahara has gone mad. It all started when he walked out of his room wearing a coat like yours."

"Wait what, a coat like mine. Where would he get one?" Ichigo asked.

"I don't know?" Tessai wailed, tears streaming down his face in a comical fashion. "He went downstairs talking to himself. He kept talking about scientific things. It sounded like he was talking to someone else but there was no one there. He kept addressing this imaginary person as Vexen. Then the explosions started."

"It seems that he has adjusted well to being the new host of number four." Said Xemnas from within Ichigo's head.

"What are you talking about Xemnas?" Ichigo asked.

"Let's just say I paid him and a few others a visit."

"How the hell would you do that." Ichigo asked. "I thought you only existed in my head."

"Normally I do but thanks to a certain friend of mine I found out I could utilize your body while you slept." Xemnas explained.

"You did what?!" Ichigo yelled at his Zanpakutō spirit.

"Relax, all I did was use my power to shape a form around your body and move it around." Xemnas said.

"Well then what did you do to Urahara?" Ichigo asked.

"I gave him a gift. Just like the one I gave that Quincy friend of yours, as well as that soul reaper you were so infatuated with."

"Rukia!" Ichigo whispered. "What did you do to her? How is she? What's happened?"

"I made her part of the organization. Just like you." Xemnas said.

"The organization?" Ichigo asked incredulously.

"Organization XIII." Xemnas told Ichigo. "It was the organization I myself led before I became this. The task of leading it now falls to you. I was merely finding hosts for the others."

"What others?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, you see, I posses the ability to grant others spirits of their own. Each spirit one of the previous members of the organization."

"So you gave Urahara, Ishida and Rukia…?"

"Numbers four, two and thirteen respectively. I also found a host for number eight. He's on the roof." Xemnas said. He didn't sound too pleased with himself but he couldn't really feel pleased now could he.

Ichigo's eyes widened and he opened a corridor of darkness and stepped out onto the roof of the Urahara shop. A funny sight awaited him. Grimmjow lay there next to a small black cat. Between them lay a large bong and several empty bags of catnip. "This is some good shit. Where did you get it?" Grimmjow asked the cat in a spaced out tone.

"Urahara always has some in the back. Believe me, the longer that stuff stays in the dark the better it gets." The cat answered in a voice that was distinctly male. Ichigo stared at the two for a second and then walked over to the two.

_What the hell? Were they smoking catnip?!? _Ichigo asked himself. "Uh hello." Ichigo said sheepishly. Grimmjow slowly turned his head over to look at Ichigo.

"Ah you must be one of the numbers Xehanort told me about. Could you give me an hour or so." He promptly turned his head back to its previous position and passed out.

"Xehanort?" Ichigo asked.

"An alias." Xemnas offered.

"I'm really not liking that fact that you were using my body."

"Relax, I only did it because I wanted to test the limits of my power. I've been asleep for a while."

"You weren't a Zanpakutō initially were you."

"None of us were. That is a story for another time however. I think it's time to see how number four is doing."

Ichigo's eye twitched and he opened another corridor of darkness to go down to the basement to see what Urahara was up to. What he saw when he got there was as weird if not weirder then what he had seen on the roof. Urahara had assembled an impromptu lab in the large basement of the Urahara shop and was now skating between stations of said lab on a large patch of ice that had formed all around it. Soon he had mixed up another concoction and had poured it into a beaker. Skating over to what appeared to be a vat of jello he poured the concoction all over it. A large explosion engulfed the area and when the dust cleared it revealed a madly cackling Urahara and an anamorphous blob of green jelly. Urahara had shielded himself from the blast using a large blue shield. Said shield had five spikes atop it with the topmost being the longest. It tapered down to a point at the bottom with four indentations taken out of it.

"It worked Vexen!!!" Urahara cried happily. He was now wearing the black coat of the organization but with his bucket had still in place atop his head. "I shall call this wonderful creature Flubber!!!"

Ichigo's eye continued its spastic twitch. _Alright, that's it. My whole world has gone to hell._

"Maybe I made a mistake." Xemnas said, sounding worried. "Last time this happened we had to leave the place we stayed because of a perpetually bouncing bowling ball."

"Sounds pretty bad." Ichigo said.

"Hey, Darth Bathrobe!!!" Came a voice from down below. Ichigo turned his head downward to see Jinta tugging on his coat. "There are some Hollows headed towards your house!!! Ishida is already on the way but I think he could use some help."

"Karin and Yuzu!" Ichigo uttered before opening a corridor of darkness and stepping through it.

_Inside the Kurosaki residence…_

Karin ushered Yuzu through the house and to the broom closet.

"Why do I have to go in here. The ghosts that big brother always has following him aren't dangerous." Yuzu complained.

"You are really lucky you can't see these things." Karin muttered. "Let's just say they look very big and very mean."

"But I don't wanna…" Yuzu never got a chance to finish as the wall behind them exploded. A large arm came through the dust. It suddenly disappeared as a hail of arrows made of red energy cut through it.

Atop and adjacent building Uryu Ishida had decided that he liked this new power of his a lot. He leapt into the air and inverted himself. While inverted he planted his feet on the air above him as if it were the ground. Standing upside down calmly he proceeded to shoot all of the oncoming hollows with the twin arrowguns he held in his hands. "Xigbar, how many hollows can you spot?" Ishida asked his spirit.

"Dude, you seem to be taken them all down." Came the surfer voice of his newfound friend and Zanpakutō spirit. His however was weird as he did not need to be in spirit form to utilize his arrowguns. Ishida manifested and reloaded them the same way he did his bow. He didn't like the coat much however, I mean he looked like some kind of cultist.

Ichigo's corridor of darkness opened next to Ishida. He barely managed to duck as two arrows cut through the area that his head had occupied.

"What the hell Ishida, those could have killed me!?!" Ichigo shouted at his friend.

"Sorry, those portals you use do kind of look like the ones that the hollows use. Then again it would be nice to give you some payback for hitting me across the face with those red blades you had coming out of your palms." Ishida said half jokingly.

"Why you…" Ichigo growled, shaking his fist at Ishida. "Never mind that, is my family hurt?"

"Your father isn't home and your sisters are inside. A hollow breached the wall but I killed it before it could get any further. Ichigo immediately dropped down to street level. He pulled his hood up on his way down. He didn't want Karin to see that it was him. He landed next to the hole and climbed through it. Upon entering he saw that Karin close the closet door.

"Hello, is anyone there." Ichigo called, trying to make his now menacing voice sound nicer. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you."

He heard a whimpering sound from inside the closet so he walked towards it. He opened it and barely managed to dodge the punch that his dark haired sister had launched at his face. "Hey!" He cried as he dodged another punch. "I'm not going to hurt you!"

"Prove it!" Karin yelled as she threw another punch. Just then another hollow started to portal into the room. It headed straight for Karin's unprotected back.

"Karin, look out!!!" Ichigo yelled and grabbed his sister into a tight embrace and used his back as a shield against the hollows claws that had been arching towards the young girl. Karin felt warm blood splatter her face and saw that a gaping hole had been torn through Ichigo's back.

"Run, Karin…" Ichigo whispered as his hood fell back away from his features.

"Ichigo…" Karin whimpered as she saw her brothers face.

Ichigo fell down into a pool of his own blood and watched as his vision began to blur. He saw Karin frantically scooting backwards as the hollow advanced on her with its claws raised. _I have to help her. I must help her. It can't end like this. I have to save Karin. I have to save Yuzu. I have to save Rukia…_

Nnoitra the adjuchas prowled towards the young girl. He had no idea why he was so attracted to this one's soul but he wanted it bad. He suddenly felt darkness. Turning his head, which was a mask resembling the head of a praying mantis, towards the body of the boy he thought he had just killed. Ichigo picked himself up off the floor, dark energy tendrils swarming in the air around him. His hair had turned snow white and grown down to his shoulders and his eyes had turned a solid, baleful, glowing yellow. His coat had changed to, many straps having formed on the arms and on the front, taking the place of the large zipper that had held the coat closed previously. "What the hell, didn't I just kill you?" Nnoitra asked.

"You tried to hurt her. I'm gonna kill you." Was Ichigo's only response as he leaped towards the shocked adjuchas with the full intent of ripping it's head off.

_It is only when you refuse to give in with all your heart that you begin to transcend your humanity._ _-Alucard_

**Love it, hate it? Please review and ask me any questions you want answered.**


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